Payment cards are widely used in financial transactions to pay for goods and/or services. Examples of payment cards include, but are not limited to, credit cards, charge cards, gift cards, debit or bank cards, and the like. As usage of payment cards continues to increase, so too have attempts to compromise payment cards and initiate fraudulent transactions.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is an example of a technology added to modern payment cards. An NFC device may be incorporated into a payment card so that when a user places the payment card within a defined range of a merchant system equipped with a payment card reader, e.g., a point of sale (POS) system, payment for a financial transaction may be provided without the need for physically contacting the payment card to any part of the merchant system as is the case with magnetic strips, for example.
While NFC equipped payment cards (NFC payment cards) are intended to provide an increased level of security, NFC payment cards still have security vulnerabilities. NFC payment cards utilize radio frequency (RF) communications during a financial transaction. Because RF communications pass through clothing and other accessories, the NFC payment card may be charged while still located in the owner's pocket, purse, wallet, or briefcase. In consequence, an NFC payment card is vulnerable to attack in that the NFC payment card may be charged without the permission and/or knowledge of the owner. Known methods of protection, e.g., enclosing the NFC payment card in a metallic case, tend to be cumbersome to carry and use.